Václav Binovec

Among his notable earlier films are Krasavice Káťa (1919), For the Freedom of the Nation (Za svobodu národa) and Plameny života (1920) and Sivooký démon, Černí myslivci and Poslední radost (all 1921).

Many of his films of the 1930s were sentimental comedies or melodramas such as Pepina Rejholcová (1932), Žena, která ví, co chce (1934) and Polibek ve sněhu, and many of them were adaptions of literary works, such as František Langer's Jízdní hlídka (The Riding Patrol) (1936), the drama Poručík Alexandr Rjepkin (Lieutenant Alexander Rjepkin) (1937) and Jan Drda's novel Městečko na dlani (The Town on the Palm) (1942).

[2] With a natural affinity for the arts and a talent for languages,[3] Binovec abandoned his studies and travelled extensively, gaining experience of the film industry in Hollywood, Paris, Berlin, Madrid and Moscow in 1911–1912.

Many of his earlier films were adaptations of literary works by the likes of Alexander Pushkin with Krasavice Káťa in 1919, and Jakub Arbes with Sivooký démon, Růžena Svobodová with Černí myslivci and Knut Hamsun with Poslední radost, all in 1921.

[2] Binovec made four appearances as an actor in his silent films, including A vásen vítezí (1918), Sivooký démon (1919), Titimekuv náhrdelník (1920).

[3] The economic crisis in Czechoslovakia curbed his filmmaking opportunities in his native country, forcing him to move to Berlin, where he set up a film school in 1924 and resumed with his production company Wetebfilm.

[2] Many of his films of the 1930s were sentimental comedies or melodramas such as Pepina Rejholcová (1932), Žena, která ví, co chce (1934) and Polibek ve sněhu.

[6] During World War II, Binovec collaborated with the Nazis, and was implicated with the arrest of Karel Hašler by the Gestapo, who later died in Mauthausen concentration camp.